2013 Now in Korea: Petition für LEE Seok-Ki

Please sign a Letter for Immediate Release of the arrested UPP members including Rep. Lee Seok-kiRequest for organizational or personal Endorsement

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- Please sign a Letter for Immediate Release of the arrested UPP members including Rep. Lee Seok-ki. Dear Colleagues in international community,

We, Korean people especially the whole members of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), are in a crucial moment with regards to the political freedom. The UPP’s 7 members including Rep. Lee Seok-ki were arrested by the National Intelligency Service (NIS) during the last September and are being under trial on the charge of conspiracy of insurgency. We strongly believe that the NIS and Park, Geun-hye administration fabricated charges in order to avoid unfavorable political situation to them. The UPP is also under the severe threat of being dismissed because it is the one which has spearheaded the anti-war and peace campaign as well as the movement to dismantle the NIS that illegally intervened in the 2012 presidential election. Today, Korean people are worried about terror of a ‘witch hunt’ by the Park, Geun-hye administration that is attempting to reverse Korean society to the past military dictatorship led by the father of President Park Geun-hye in the 1970s. The NIS failed to present substantive evidence to prove charges. The only evidence which was presented by the NIS for charges was recording tapes and transcript over what Lee, Seok-ki and other members discussed at a meeting. But a recording tape was not an original copy and there were 272 errors in the transcript that was written down to the copy recording by the NIS. This insurrection conspiracy case on Lee, Seok-ki and other UPP members is representing the serious political situation suppressing basic human rights and Korean democracy. Below is a sign-on letter addressed to the Suwon District Court for Rep. Lee Seok-ki and other members of the UPP in jail. In particular it requests the Court to release immediately arrested UPP members including Rep. Lee Seok-ki. If you wish to sign-on to the letter please send an email to petition.kr@gmail.com by 31th December 2013 with the name of your organisation, country and contact details. If you have any question or comment to the sign-on letter, please don't hesitate to be in touch with us. With best regards, Task Force against ‘Conspiracy of an Insurrection’ fabricated by NIS and Political Repressionhttp://gongjak.orgpetition.kr@gmail.com--------

P e t i t i o n

Honoroble Kim Jong-woon

We, the undersigned, sincerely wish for South Korea to advance as a democratic society that advocates human rights. We admire that South Korea put an end to military dictatorship through decades of struggle for democracy. It is an OECD member country and an economic powerhouse that ranks among the top ten largest economies. However, the latest news from Korea raised many concerns.

As disclosures of the National Intelligence Service's (NIS) political interference in the last presidential election have had public and people ask for dissolution of the NIS and accountability of President Park Geun-hye, the NIS raided and arrested members of the Unified Progressive Party (UPP), including Representative Lee Seok-ki, on charges of conspiring a rebellion.

We are shocked to learn that the so-called evidence disclosed by the NIS was gathered through three years of secret surveillance and recordings. To detain the UPP members based on what Representative Lee Seok-ki told in his speech or what the UPP members said in their discussion is to suppress the freedom of thought and speech. If South Korea were a truly democratic society, differences in thought should be resolved through discussions ; it is gravely unfortunate that the government instead chose to put seven people behind bars and now faces accusations of human rights violation and liberty restriction.

We, the undersigned, are especially concerned that the so-called Lee Seok-ki conspiracy for rebellion case has all the trappings of political repression and retaliation by the South Korean government against its political opposition. After detaining and indicting seven people, even before the start of the first trial, the South Korean government petitioned for the dissolution of the Unified Progressive Party. As a progressive party, the Unified Progressive Party represents the powerless and fights for the working people. The New York Times, in an article assessed that the South Korean government's petition to dissolve the Unified Progressive Party is political retaliation against the former UPP presidential candidate who publicly criticized Park Geun-hye at the national TV debate during the last presidential election. The government's decision to eliminate an entire political party which advance or fade away through the chocie of citizens is reminiscent of fascism.

South Korea has a history of cracking down on political opposition through its intelligence agency during the military dictatorship era. The injustice cases with those who were imprisoned or executed on charges of conspiracy for rebellion has been exposed through retrials that overturned the original verdicts 30 years later. The most well-known case is the so-called Kim Dae-jung conspiracy for rebellion case. We, the undersigned, are gravely concerned about South Korea's return to the past where the intelligence agency took the lead in cracking down on political opposition forces.

Honorable Kim Jong-woon, We believe that South Korea's democracy will continue to advance because that is the wish of the people and many are working tirelessly to defend democracy. The judiciary's retrial and overturn of wrong verdicts of the past was a valorous act that greatly contributed to the advance of democracy in South Korea.

The seven people currently detained, including Rep. Lee Seok-ki, were subjected to a sensationalized public trial by a media which didn't even fact-check the information provided to them by the intelligence agency, and have suffered as a result serious emotional and material damage. Their families are also accused of being communists and spies and are the targets of a witch hunt.